When Women Vote: A Zócalo/NHMLAC Event Series

Francille Rusan Wilson is an intellectual and labor historian whose research examines the intersections between Black labor movements, Black social scientists, and Black women’s history during the Jim Crow era. She is Associate Professor of American Studies & Ethnicity, History and Gender & Sexuality Studies at the University of Southern California, and the co-curator for “Rise Up LA: A Century of Votes for Women” opening online in August 2020 and in person in October 2020 at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

Ju Hui Judy Han is a cultural geographer and assistant professor in Gender Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her comics and writings about (im)mobilities, religious politics, and feminist and queer activism have been published in journals and books including Critical Asian Studies, positions: asia critique, and Ethnographies of U.S. Empire (2018). She is currently working on a book on queer temporalities and the political order in Korea, and co-writing a book on political protest with Jennifer Chun.

Valentine M. Moghadam is Professor of Sociology and International Affairs at Northeastern University. Her areas of research include globalization, transnational social movements and feminist networks, economic citizenship, and gender and development in the Middle East and North Africa. Among her many publications is Globalizing Women: Transnational Feminist Networks (2005). Her forthcoming book, co-authored book with Shamiran Mako, is After the Arab Spring: Progress and Stagnation in the Middle East and North Africa (Cambridge 2021).

Rinku Sen is a journalist and political strategist who has been a leading voice in the racial justice for over 30 years; she is currently Co-President of the Women’s March board of directors. Sen is formerly the Executive Director of Race Forward and was Publisher of their award-winning news site Colorlines. Her books Stir it Up and The Accidental American theorize a model of community organizing that integrates a political analysis of race, gender, class, sexuality, and other systems.

Dr. C. Nicole Mason is the president and CEO of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR), a leading voice on pay equity, economic policies, and research impacting women. She studies economic security, poverty, women’s issues, and entitlement reforms; policy formation and political participation among women, communities of color, and youth; and racial equity. Prior to IWPR, Dr. Mason was the executive director of the Women of Color Policy Network at New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. She is the author of Born Bright: A Young Girl’s Journey from Nothing to Something in America. Her writing has been featured in The New York Times, The Nation, The Washington Post, Marie Claire, ESSENCE, and Bustle, among others.

Martha S. Jones is the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor and Professor of History at The Johns Hopkins University. She is a legal and cultural historian whose work examines how black Americans have shaped the story of American democracy. Professor Jones is the author of Birthright Citizens: A History of Race and Rights in Antebellum America. Her latest book, published Sept. 2020, is Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Fought for Rights for All. Professor Jones is recognized as a public historian, frequently writing for broader audiences at outlets including the Washington Post, the Atlantic, USA Today, Public Books, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and Time. Professor Jones currently serves as a President of the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians, and on the Executive Board of the Organization of American Historians.

Marisa Lagos is a correspondent for KQED’s California Politics and Government Desk and co-hosts a weekly show and podcast, Political Breakdown. At KQED, Lagos conducts reporting, analysis and investigations into state, local and national politics for radio, TV and online. Every week, she and cohost Scott Shafer sit down with political insiders on Political Breakdown, where they offer a peek into lives and personalities of those driving politics in California and beyond. Previously, she worked for nine years at the San Francisco Chronicle covering San Francisco City Hall and state politics; and at the San Francisco Examiner and Los Angeles Times. She has won awards for her work investigating the 2017 wildfires and her ongoing coverage of criminal justice issues in California. She lives in San Francisco with her two sons and husband.

Hannah-Beth Jackson is a former prosecutor and practicing attorney, educator, and small business owner. She was elected to the California State Senate in 2012 to represent the 19th Senate District, which includes all of Santa Barbara County and western Ventura County. In the Senate, she is chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee and serves on several key committees, including the Natural Resources and Water Committee, the Labor and Industrial Relations Committee, and the Public Safety Committee. Hannah-Beth is the author of Senate Bill 358, the California Fair Pay Act, landmark legislation that established the strongest equal pay law in the country. She was recently named by the Huffington Post as one of 11 women around the country “blazing new trails” in American politics.

Rosie Rios is the CEO of Red River Associates, a real estate investment management firm. She was the 43rd Treasurer of the United States where she initiated and led the efforts to place a portrait of a woman on the front of U.S. currency for the first time in over a century. Upon her resignation in 2016, she received the Hamilton Award, the highest honor bestowed in the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Rosie was the longest serving Senate-confirmed Treasury official beginning with her time on the Treasury/Federal Reserve Transition Team in November 2008 at the height of the financial crisis. Following her tenure, she was appointed as a Visiting Scholar at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University with a focus on Millennials and Post-Millennials. Most recently she was honored in August 2020 as one of USA Today’s Women of the Century. Her personal passion includes EMPOWERMENT 2020, an initiative that facilitates the physical recognition of historical American women.

Maria Elena Durazo, California State Senator. María Elena Durazo was born the seventh child in a family of eleven children to migrant worker parents. María Elena attended St. Mary’s College in Moraga, California, and graduated in 1975. While working as a union organizer, she pursued an education in law at the People’s College of Law and earned her degree in 1985. In 2004, she became the Executive Vice President of UNITE-HERE International. In 2008, María Elena Durazo served as the Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee and as National Co-Chair of the Barack Obama Presidential Campaign. From 2006 through 2014, she was the first woman Secretary-Treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, the second largest labor council in the country and served on the National AFL-CIO Executive Council. Besides her union work, María Elena has served on many civic commissions and boards. Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley appointed her to the Los Angeles Commission on Airports, Mayor Richard Riordan appointed her to the Los Angeles Parks and Recreation Committee and she has also served on the California State Coastal Commission.

One of America’s leading visual artists, Dr. Judith F. Baca, has created public art for four decades. Powerful in size and subject matter, Baca’s murals bring art to where people live and work. In 1974, Baca founded the City of Los Angeles’ first mural program, which produced over 400 murals and employed thousands of local participants, and evolved into an arts organization known as the Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC). She continues to serve as SPARC’s artistic director and focuses her creative energy in the UCLA@SPARC Digital/Mural Lab, employing digital technology to promote social justice and participatory public arts projects. Currently an emeritus professor of the University of California Los Angeles, where she was a senior professor in Chicana/o Studies and World Art and Cultures Departments from 1993 until 2018.

Christine Margiotta is passionate about channeling the collective power of Angelenos to create a more just and loving LA. In her role as Executive Director of Social Venture Partners Los Angeles, she leads a purpose-driven community of nonprofits, individuals, and foundations creating profound systemic transformation. Christine is a graduate of Scripps College and received her MSW from UCLA. She lives in Claremont with her wife, Becky, and their two children, Huck and Vivian, and she serves as the Chairperson of the L.A. County Measure H Citizen’s Oversight Advisory Board.

Connie Rice is co-director of the Advancement Project. Prior to that Connie was the NAACP Legal Defense; Educational Fund, an associate at the law firm of Morrison; Foerster, and a clerk to the Honorable Damon J. Keith, judge of the United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit. Connie is a graduate of Harvard College and the New York University School of Law.

Angel Jennings, Los Angeles Times. As assistant managing editor for culture and talent, Angel Jennings oversees the Metpro and internship programs as well as works closely with HR and department heads to help manage a broad range of responsibilities, including tracking, recruiting, interviewing and selecting diverse candidates for job opportunities and advancing the company’s efforts to promote diversity, equity, inclusion and access. She also works across the newsroom on retention, training and career development efforts. Jennings previously worked as a reporter in Metro. She got her start in the Metpro program in 2011 and has since worked on assignments with many departments in the newsroom, including Metro, National, Calendar, Business and podcasts.